While the White House dreams have already been dashed for three of these candidates (Chafee, Graham, and Webb – presuming he does not launch an independent bid), there are probably at least even odds that one of the remaining six will become the 45th president of the United States.

To date, sixteen U.S. Senators later served as president and quite possibly one of the 100 members comprising the chamber of the 114th Congress will add his or her name to that list in the coming years.

There have been four U.S. Senators in history who served in a seat previously held by a former president and then later became president in their own right:

In Virginia: John Tyler (1827-1836) served in James Monroe’s (1790-1794) Class I seat

In Massachusetts: John Kennedy (1953-1960) served in John Quincy Adams’ (1803-1808) Class I seat

At one point in U.S. history, three future presidents served alongside one another in the nation’s upper legislative chamber.

From March 4, 1827 through May 20, 1828 during the 20th Congress, Adams-supporting William Henry Harrison of Ohio and Jacksonians Martin Van Buren of New York and John Tyler of Virginia were all in office in the U.S. Senate.

On May 20, 1828, Harrison resigned to become Minister to Colombia under President Adams while Tyler and Van Buren continued to serve until December 20, 1828 when the latter resigned after being elected governor of New York.

Four other pairs of future presidents served together in the U.S. Senate during the 19th and 20th Centuries:

John Tyler and James Buchanan (December 6, 1834 to February 29, 1836)

James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce (March 4, 1837 to February 28, 1842)

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